Why Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel Moved to Tennessee

The actor and actress accept the paparazzi as part of their jobs, but want their children to have the chance to disengage.

By Michael Hein

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have moved out of Los Angeles and settled primarily in their Tennessee home, seeking a sense of "normalcy." Biel spoke about the move on Wednesday on Kelly Ripa's Sirius XM show Let's Talk Off Camera. She said that she and Timberlake wanted their children to grow up like normal people, without paparazzi or clamoring fans.

Biel said that it's hard for her and Timberlake to go anywhere public without being recognized – particularly in L.A. or other major cities. She said that it began to bother her when she was with her 9-year-old son Silas and her 3-year-old son Phineas. She said: "I don't think they necessarily respect that, you know, if we're out and about with out kids. It can be somewhat country dependent, where if we're in this country, in the States, it's kind of like state by state, you know."

"You get hammered on the east coast, you kind of get hammered on the West Coast. That's why we don't really live there anymore," Biel went on. She said that she and Timberlake accept the notoriety as part of their work, but went on: "It's just trying to create some normalcy for these kids, and we want to share our family with our loved ones and friends."

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Biel and Timberlake own a massive home in the Hollywood Hills, which they listed for sale in the fall of 2021. At the time, a source close to them told PEOPLE that they were spending more time at their home in Montana anyway. They also had a home in the Nashville area (in the rural community of Leiper's Fork), which they listed for sale in the summer of 2023. The L.A. home still hasn't sold but was taken off the market. It's unclear where they live in the Volunteer State if not their Middle Tennessee mansion, but they reportedly still own their secluded Montana home in a gated community.

Biel said that the point of retreating to these out-of-the-way places is to give her children more options. She said she will let them decide if they want to live in the public eye when they're adults, adding: "And I know this very social media world is where they exist and where they live and that will be a very big part of their life and their reality. I just don't want it to be on my account, so we try to engage in a way that feels authentic."

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